Marketing Transformation Requires a New Strategy

August 8, 2018

Social media and other emerging digital technologies provide new opportunities to get your message out and create attractive offerings for advertisers and sponsors. To navigate the new marketing and advertising landscape, you’ll need a fresh strategy.

Rapid transformation in the digital landscape is a given. Social media platforms, artificial intelligence, and native advertising all offer opportunities for targeted outreach to new and potential members and customers. According to “Marketing and Advertising Transformation,” a new driver of change identified by the ASAE Foundation’s ASAE ForesightWorks research initiative, the ongoing challenge will be to figure out which of these tools best meet your needs and then create a cohesive strategy for using them effectively.

A key element of that strategy will be defining methods to reach all your intended audiences. Association marketing teams will need to use a variety of new tools, like social media platforms and marketing automation software, to expand their reach. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on your tried-and-true tactics. Younger generations show no signs of abandoning social media—they increasingly get both entertainment and information from YouTube, podcasts, and other platforms—but there are significant generational differences in social media and digital content consumption. Likewise, the advent of microtargeting means advertisers can reach individuals with specific demographic profiles, but it also carries a risk of excluding some potential and existing members.

Native advertising—ads that take the form of surrounding content, like photographs or articles—has surged in recent years and is expected to continue to grow in popularity. Associations may create native ads on Facebook or Instagram to connect with new audiences, but they may also seek to integrate sponsored content into their own media channels to produce nondues revenue. If you go that route, take care to build a strategy that is mindful of your brand’s reputation as well as revenue potential and that preserves the integrity of the association as a gatekeeper of trusted information and content.

480 million
Number of new social media accounts created in 2016

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to advertising and marketing strategy, and associations must juggle more complexities than many other organizations. Association marketers must simultaneously communicate the mission, attract new members, and build the reputation of their industry. And any marketing or advertising content your association produces needs to be shared across the chosen channels in a way that presents a cohesive brand and message.

The future of marketing and advertising is dynamic. To effectively reach your audiences now and in the future, you will need to monitor trends and account for change in your strategic plans. The ASAE ForesightWorks action brief on the Marketing and Advertising Transformation driver of change, along with the other ForesightWorks resources, can help you understand this shifting landscape and set a course that’s heading in the right direction.

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